Dare one hope that this means the subject of GM foods will be publically
discussed, and the results honestly reported in the main media ?
Cheers for 1999
MichaelP
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London TIMES January 1 1999
Tories call for more studies of GM crops
BY MICHAEL HORNSBY, AGRICULTURE CORRESPONDENT
THE Tories yesterday called for a delay of at least three years on the
commercial growing of genetically modified crops to allow time for
more research into their safety.
Tim Yeo, the Shadow Agriculture Minister, said that widespread
anxieties about such crops needed to be allayed if their potentially
significant benefits for future food production were to be realised.
Commercial planting should be postponed for at least the rest of this
Parliament, Mr Yeo said, by which time a number of
government-commissioned studies on the environmental impact of
genetically modified crops would have been completed.
"We will have a lot more information by then and the position could be
reviewed," he said. There is a very strong argument for somewhat more
caution than the Government has so far shown and very little to be
lost by slowing down a bit."
He added: "Many environmental groups have called for a moratorium for
up to three years to ensure a proper examination of the impact of
genetically modified organisms on the British countryside.
"The Labour Government's attitude to this is not clear but the case
for delay has been strengthened by their failure to provide full
details of their own testing.
"Against this background I believe the commercial release of such
crops should be delayed until the results of government-commissioned
studies on the impact of genetically modified crops are available," he
said.
In October the Government announced that it had reached a voluntary
agreement with the plant-breeding industry for a delay of at least
three years in the commercial growing of any crops genetically
engineered to be resistant to insect pests.
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